16th man wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2023 6:32 pm
I've not watched it back, but my thoughts on watching it on the day were that, once JVP (who you can't really blame as he's been pretty badly exposed) has made VDM step one way, it was disappointing that Steward and Dombrandt weren't able to sort it out between them.
I think it may be a classic case of one of those instances where we're questioning England's defence, but if it had been OHC who'd made the break we'd all be questioning his credentials as an international wing if he had been stopped once he'd stepped the 9, and the lock had missed the tap.
Just as a note, it's Steward who gets to him first, making him step one way, then it's JVP and Dombrandt who arrive at the end, so it's Steward who you're finding yourself not able to blame.
FKAS wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2023 6:45 pm
The weekend's game reinforced my opinion of Dombrandt, he's a very good club player who's struggling to adapt to the speed and intensity of international rugby. He's probably got the 6N to make the step up as long as he avoids any real stinker performances but come the summer when Mercer comes available, maybe Tom Willis as well then it'll be tougher for him if he can't point to some positive performances for England.
That’s a fair assessment. However … Saturday was the first time I’ve seen him get to play a bit more like he does for Quins. I won’t try to excuse the pathetic attempt at a tackle on DvdM, but for a couple of other moments, he was inches away from something very good. If he’d taken Ludlam’s offload, I’m pretty sure that’s a try scoring opportunity. I know it’s ‘ifs and buts’, but I’m also very confident that Billy doesn’t run that line.
While I wouldn’t say Dombrandt and Mercer are particularly similar, they have similar strengths and even if the former doesn’t end up convincing, persevering potentially paves the way for the latter to slot in more easily from a system POV. I can see more upsides to giving Dombrandt more chances than I can for Simmonds (or Billy).
FKAS wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2023 6:45 pm
The weekend's game reinforced my opinion of Dombrandt, he's a very good club player who's struggling to adapt to the speed and intensity of international rugby. He's probably got the 6N to make the step up as long as he avoids any real stinker performances but come the summer when Mercer comes available, maybe Tom Willis as well then it'll be tougher for him if he can't point to some positive performances for England.
That’s a fair assessment. However … Saturday was the first time I’ve seen him get to play a bit more like he does for Quins. I won’t try to excuse the pathetic attempt at a tackle on DvdM, but for a couple of other moments, he was inches away from something very good. If he’d taken Ludlam’s offload, I’m pretty sure that’s a try scoring opportunity. I know it’s ‘ifs and buts’, but I’m also very confident that Billy doesn’t run that line.
While I wouldn’t say Dombrandt and Mercer are particularly similar, they have similar strengths and even if the former doesn’t end up convincing, persevering potentially paves the way for the latter to slot in more easily from a system POV. I can see more upsides to giving Dombrandt more chances than I can for Simmonds (or Billy).
Yeah Dombrandt isn't miles off it's just a couple of percent. He's just not got long to find that couple of percent. There's plenty to like about what he does but there was several FFS moments at the weekend. Him not finishing the full 80 wasn't a good look either, he seemed to fade as the game wore on.
Minute 36: Commentary are waffling about Genge "losing his head in the heat of international rugby and England need him to get his game head on" for {checks notes} conceding a penalty for a mild technical scrum offence. Wild.
Scotland take the lineout uncontested and we go for an early shove to disrupt the maul. Scotland were planning a peel anyway, but it goes wrong and ends up with Nel going alone down the blindside and getting robbed by Itoje. We run another phase and reset for a box-kick.
Minute 37: It's not a bad box-kick, but not *quite* close enough for a proper contest. VDM gets Curry in his ribs the minute he lands and gets shoved backward several metres - good work from Ben. Russell then goes for a kick, but takes so long about it that he's asking for another HORWITLBIDTPHO. Smith goes for the charge rather than the smash and it disrupts the kick enough that it bounces awkwardly. OHC does a nice job tidying and tapping to Steward, who steps Steyn, draws Jones and puts Marchant away down the win. Scotland scramble him down, but we lose some speed of ball due to a miscommunication between George and JVP - George plans to play 9, JVP backs off so that the ball can be flipped up to him, George sees JVP and assumes he needs to get out of the way and joins the ruck, JVP then has to unback-off so he can go to the base and pass. I think it must be that JVP's not being loud/forceful enough in his comms. It'll come with experience and more time on the training pitch with these players.
Chessum makes good ground in contact and we're back to faster ball. Farrell is playing 10 with Smith lurking again - I preferred it with them playing the numbers on their backs. Smith doesn't impress with a poor choice of mispass over hands, but Malins cuts a nice line off his wing to keep us going forwards. The ball is slowed by Ritchie cheating like a sod, right in front of the ref, but we reset with Sinckler playing 10, angling to pop to Genge on the crash, but pulling out the back to Farrell who fizzes a flat pass to Dombrandt on the hard line. The Dombuster actually catches the ball and then goes above and beyond with a lovely carry that dents the Scots line.
Minute 38: More Farrell at 10 and Smith at 12 - I don't like it, not least because Smith looks lost whenever he's playing 12. If Faz isn't a 12, Smith definitely bloody isn't. Shades of the Hodgson at 12 about it. Still, we're giving JVP good quick ball and he puts it out to Farrell who draws a man and pops inside to Marchant running a lovely line. It's a 2s ruck again and the ball is kept alive - Chessum carry and pop out the back to Genge, who interests the defence and chooses the right option to pass onto Steward, who draws VDM and puts Ludlam away (who has controlled his feet and got into perfect position, btw). It's fast and good decision-making, leaving Ludlam as a 2-on-1. It would be easy for him to throw an early pass and presume Malins wants the ball asap, allowing Hogg to drift, but instead he straightens, carrying the ball in two hands and waits until Hogg bites before feeding Malins and giving him a run in.
That is how I want England playing. Fast rucks, forwards coming onto the ball at pace and making hte defence guess if this is a carry or a pass, and good decision-making. If we can do more of that, we'll worry a lot of teams.
Minute 39: The replays show off just how much of a passenger Smith was in that move. He may as well not have been on the pitch - Farrell was playing 10. We just can't play both of them; it just doesn't work. If Farrell stayed at 12, fine, but Smith can't do the second-fiddle thing - he just ends up wandering around behind the play.
Minute 40: Farrell sets up the conversion and it does look a good 3-4 metres wider than where Malins touched down. I'm assuming the ref has placed him, but it's clearly wrong. He misses by a reasonable distance anyway and that's another which really should've been slotted.
Scotland kick off and Chessum and his pod misread it - they don't get in the right position to get up in the air and Chessum's ground based catch gets sniped by a flying Scot who wins the ball.
Minute 41: The Scots attack only lasts a few phases before Dombrandt gets over with a good jackal and England get a last chance to attack. Smith kicks up to just over halfway and we play a nice little trick lineout move to Ludlam running around the front.
Minute 42: Ludlam has a think about a pop to George, which would've been nice if it worked but was realistically too low percentage, so he holds on and we set a ruck. Sinckler's off playing 10 again (he's done it more in the last 10 minutes than Smith has), but he's stymied by Curry binding onto him for a carry and so he takes it up hard. The quick cleanout means JVP can just pick and go, drawing the last Scots defender and sending Chessum away down the left wing. Chessum goes through two tacklers and we're suddenly at the edge of the 22. Quick ball and another good set of Sinckler hands at first receiver and Smith gets a go at being 10. He dummies and goes for a half-break and we've got more quick ball. Genge carries poorly and is rightly driven backwards, but he's got the presence of mind to pop to Curry who carries well and deep into the 22. Nel goes for a jackal and probably should've got it, but in his enthusiasm he goes off his feet and gives away a penalty. We can't regather the loose ball and it's a simple choice - in front of the posts, injury-time, 2 points down, kick please.
Minute 43: The Scots players are doing a shitty job staying still for the kick, with some general milling around and one doing some form of calisthetics. Not great sportsmanship. The ICEMAN shows that he cannot be distracted however and demonstrates that the mark of a true top-tier goalkicker is to have 100% from the third kick after missing the first two. Half time and it's 13-12.
Minute 41: Scotland do the best kick-off of the game so far (low bar), but Chessum takes charge, coming forward and jumping to claim, before driving a few metres further forward. Good start. We rest for a box kick and JVP flirts with the ball being exposed, which you'd've thought he'd be careful about after the autumn. He gets a good kick away though and our chase forces Hogg's kick out of the full.
We run our lineout very quickly and it's another dummy maul and pass wide to JVP. Farrell is once again playing 10, but doing it competently to pick out a big runner. He then goes in to ruck and I think, "Great, Smith will be 10 from this phase!" But instead it's Genge. The ball does actually get pulled back to Smith, but he just gets tackled and we reset.
Minute 42: Another phase and JVP passes deep to Farrell who puts up a high-ball. Malins is blatantly taken out by a Scotsman changing his line to prevent him competing, but still manages to tackle Hogg well. Scotland box-kick but it's sliced and they give away a pen for taking a player off the ball this time. The ball bounces to OHC who runs sideways to find some space and pick off a prop. We've got quick ball and are looking dangerous on the 22, so it's time for...
Minute 43:Kicking Away Decent Attacking Ball: Farrell x 1, Smith x2, JVP x1. In fairness, the kick isn't terrible - it's a grubber through that ricochets about and which Malins gets his boot to, but it's still ball that ends up in a Scots hand that we could've kept in ours. To add insult to injury, the ref calls advantage over for the penalty which, considering Farrell's kick was no more than 10m in front of the penalty offence, feels harsh. Yes, we're up to the Scots 5m line, but that's through a kick in which they got the ball. They don't kick it a huge distance and we still get a lineout on the edge of the 22, so it's not a massive decision, but it does irk.
Minute 44: Unfortunately, we screw the lineout and, while Chessum does recover the loose ball, he's driven far backwards and Curry goes off his feet and from the side to try and keep the ball. I'm normally very much defending the hookers when people blame them for lineout issues, but that was just George overcooking the throw by a few centimetres. He's normally perfect, so it's surprising to have a second overthrow of the game.
Scotland kick down to our 22 and take a lineout uncontested. It appears we're just looking at preventing a barrier to the maul, which is vexing - surely it's easier to disrupt at source?
Minute 45: Itoje and Curry make big two tackles in defence each and Scotland go backwards before Ritchie channels Dombrandt and drops a simple pass.
The minute finishes with a scrum I remember from watching live. Nel loses the hit and attempts to go down, but Genge physically hauls him back up and Nel accepts it so he doesn't look to the ref like he's collapsing. However, this has allowed Genge to position Nel as he wants and, as soon as the ball comes in, he proceeds to force him in and across, while driving forwards and spinning the Scots scrum like a top. Penalty won, excellent dominance by Genge.
Minute 46: Most of the minute is spent with replays of the scrum, but we've got 15s left when England take a good lineout with Ludlam. Gray jumps across the line and gives away a penalty - we try a little attack (Farrell at 10, again! Why has this changed after the first 25 minutes?! It's like they stopped letting Smith run things the minute I went to bed last night and today has just been solid Farrell at 10!), but it doesn't go anywhere after JVP miscommunicates with Farrell and throws a blind pass to absolutely no-one.
Minute 47: Absolutely nothing happens in this minute for some reason, not even a failure to scrum. The ref makes a big production out of trotting back across the pitch to where the penalty was given, we're given loads of time to kick for touch and sort out our lineout calls, and before anything happens, it's...
Minute 48: In which Scotland don't compete and we take simple ball at the front with Chessum. Scotland are clearly expecting the drive, which is weird considering we haven't done it all game. Every single lineout has either been off the top or brought down for a dummy drive and then a forward peels and passes out. The latter happens this time, but Scotland bite hard on the dummy drive and it leaves loads of space for Curry to take it to the line and then unleash Dombrandt on a hard out-to-in line. It's a good carry through backs and then quick ball gives Sinckler a chance to show off quick hnads that put Genge through a half-gap and up to the edge of the line. Another big carry from Curry with Ludlam binding bends the Scotland defence to nearly breaking point and JVP makes the good decision to jack back to where the ball came from and feed Genge against the backs and he drives over. A really well executed try with good decision-making all around.
Minute 49: Fazlet slots the conversion and we're 20-12 up. Shall we stop this recap here? I think we should stop it here. This feels like the right place for the game to've ended, don't you think?
We get video of Dombrandt celebrating and being congratulated by his teammates, and the video cuts to the live action just in time to watch him drop the simplest restart catch you'll ever see. Just straight through his breadbasket while under no pressure at all. Just... Dombrandt's international career so far summed up in two minutes - not quite the sublime to the ridiculous, more the "That's pretty good" to the ridiculous.
Minute 50: We fail to scrum, but that's partly about the referee who hesitates for so long between Bind and Set that the two front rows just end up coming together anyway.
Minute 39: The replays show off just how much of a passenger Smith was in that move. He may as well not have been on the pitch - Farrell was playing 10. We just can't play both of them; it just doesn't work. If Farrell stayed at 12, fine, but Smith can't do the second-fiddle thing - he just ends up wandering around behind the play.
And so if or when SB realises this we're stuck with the equivalent of Morph at the WC. Fab.
FKAS wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2023 6:45 pm
The weekend's game reinforced my opinion of Dombrandt, he's a very good club player who's struggling to adapt to the speed and intensity of international rugby. He's probably got the 6N to make the step up as long as he avoids any real stinker performances but come the summer when Mercer comes available, maybe Tom Willis as well then it'll be tougher for him if he can't point to some positive performances for England.
That’s a fair assessment. However … Saturday was the first time I’ve seen him get to play a bit more like he does for Quins. I won’t try to excuse the pathetic attempt at a tackle on DvdM, but for a couple of other moments, he was inches away from something very good. If he’d taken Ludlam’s offload, I’m pretty sure that’s a try scoring opportunity. I know it’s ‘ifs and buts’, but I’m also very confident that Billy doesn’t run that line.
While I wouldn’t say Dombrandt and Mercer are particularly similar, they have similar strengths and even if the former doesn’t end up convincing, persevering potentially paves the way for the latter to slot in more easily from a system POV. I can see more upsides to giving Dombrandt more chances than I can for Simmonds (or Billy).
I certainly want to see Dombrandt get 3 games on the trot. As you say he wasn’t far off making an impact and, like a few others, he just looked a bit excitable which resulted in rushing a number of times. I feel the same regards Curry, who I think was hung out to dry by a few of his teammates.
Minute 51: Genge looks like he has Nel on toast again at the scrum, but the ref doesn't blow and Scotland play away. Farrell is very studiously paying attention and staying connected in this defensive line - I'm assuming he got read the riot act at halftime. We cover it well and, as Scotland try to come back the other way, Itoje and Sinckler absolutely level Schoeman with a beautiful high-low combo. Dombrandt goes for a fish at a turnover, disrupting the ball enough that it bobbles out and everything goes wrong. Curry gets overexcited at seeing the loose ball on the floor, charges up to try and nail White, but he slips past him and waltzes over the line.
While this may look like a simple missed tackle that's solely Curry's fault, it is also a system error by another player - Marchant. The blind side is underresourced and Marchant is a) too wide and b) too eager to come up when he sees loose ball. He should be tighter to Curry and treading water (given it's a 4-on-3) - White should not have the space to be rounding Curry; going wider should leave him being enveloped by the outside man. Looking at the top angle, I suspect he's seen the bobbling ball, thinks White's going to have to pass it left and thinks he's in for an intercept and 80m try. Had White done so, I think he'd probably have been right, but it didn't happen, so it has to go down as a gamble that didn't pay off.
Minute 52: More replays. On first watch, I wanted to add this to the "Steward should've done better" list, but on review there's nothing he can do. He has to run full-speed or else White just gets in untouched at the corner, but as soon as he's committed to that, he's easy to step. Nothing else he could really do there.
Minute 53: Russell kicks the conversion. We kick off, again without any ambition to compete, but Ludlam turns it into a good restat by absolutely levelling Fagerson. Had we won, he should've been our PotM. White box-kicks away and demonstrated exactly what JVP should've done in the first half - good touch finder taking them up to the 10m line.
Minute 54: Our lineout is poor - we call to exactly where Scotland's pod is and Chessum doesn't do a brilliant job in the one-on-one mid-air ball wrestle and it ends up being tapped back on Scotland's side. However, I will note that this one was definitely not George's fault, unless he called it.
Scotland wang the ball wide and we have a new contender for Hit On Russell Which Isn't Technically Late But Is Definitely To Put Him Off: Curry x 1 Ludlam x2, Farrell x1, but it goes past him and we're left defending a 4-on-2 in 20m of space. One pass and it becomes a 3-on-1, but OHC clearly has some kind to telepathic ability because he makes Jones kick the ball aimlessly away, rather than continue attacking.
The aimless pingpong then start and continues for most of the rest of the minute, until VDM shanks his kick and we get a lineout just inside the Scots half.
Minute 55: We accept front ball this time and it's again quickly out and into midfield. Farrell is once again playing 10, but this time runs a centre's line up and into midfield. It's quick ball and we carry up only to have a bit of a shock as Smith decides he wants to play 10 for a bit. This goes through several phases and Farrell plays an orthodox 12. It's bizarre - clearly a called move to switch playmakers, but I don't get why you'd ever want to switch back given how pointless Smith at 12 has turned out to be.
It matters not, because JVP decides we've had enough of comfortable possession inside the opposition half and goes a dink box kick that takes a bad bounce and rolls touch in goal. We weren't exactly in the ascendancy and demolishing Scotland's defence, but it was still safe possession in the Scots have that we could've built something from, so I'm still adding it to the list: Kicking Away Decent Attacking Ball: Farrell x1, Smith x2, JVP x2.
Minute 56: We don't even get a scrum set fully, let alone fail at it, but that is partly because of the departure of Dombrandt and the entrance of Ben Earl, who does pack straight down at no 8.
Minute 57: Nel once again gets beasted by Genge, but he doesn't cheat in going backwards and Scotland get the ball away. Curry puts in a great low tackle on Tuipulotu, Farrell puts in another on Hogg (tackle school!), Scotland are going backwards and Crosbie carries straight into Itoje and regrets it. The ball comes back to Russell, who is ostensibly kicking downfield, but has one eye on Genge, who is charging up to murder him. He skews the kick, it goes out on the full and Genge has the presence of mind to pull right out of murdering to avoid any hint of a penalty. Good play - in his youth, he would've continued full on just for the fun of it.
Minute 58: Once again, free ball to Chessum at the front, a dummy maul, Ludlam pops out the back and passes wide to JVP. One wonders why the Scots keep falling for it, although I suppose the answer is that the one time they don't, we'll actually genuinely drive. I remember how this game ends though, so it probably wasn't worthwhile them worrying about it.
JVP's pass to our 10-wearing-12 is unsympathetic to say the least, but Fazlet brings it in and then picks the wrong option in a flat pass rather than the pull-back to Smith on the run-around. We run through a couple of decent phases, creeping forward a bit at a time, and Farrell then creates a hole with a straighten and little inside pop to Malins. He's just tap tackled, but it's got Scotland backpedalling and JVP picks and goes through the gap between a prop and a centre. His step isn't good enough to beat Hogg, but he offloads to Chessum on the charge and we're up to the 5m line.
This is one of the most disappointing bits of the game. Scotland successfully slow the ball from a big tackle on a Ludlam carry, which gives them time to reorganise defensively. However, it's still tremendous field position - 7m out, under the posts - and we absolutely should be scoring from here, even if it's just keeping possession and attacking till we have a penalty. This is where we should be organising our three-man pods - resuscitate the move and start drawing the Scots defence back in. Instead, Smith is waving and flapping for the ball on the left, Farrell switches from the right and passes to him and, whatever Smith has seen has closed up. There is sort of a gap outside Nel who is puffing, but he's done well to get across and there's no gap for an instant score. What Smith needs to do is jink back inside and seek the safety of his teammates. Instead, he runs sideways in a doomed attempt to get right around the outside of a 3-on-2 underlap and practically doesn't need to be tackled into touch as he almost runs there himself.
Terrific field position, solid possession, utterly wasted.
Minute 59: Youngs is on for JVP, which seems utterly, utterly baffling. Van Poortvliet's just made a gorgeous break, so he's clearly not blowing, and, while I could've done without the two bits of good ball kicked away, he's been one of the best things about our attack. Just like replacing your fly-half, I don't see why you would replace your 9 if he's still doing well. Very poor substituting here.
Scotland throw their lineout long over the top and it's a good move that puts them in position to box-kick up to the 10m line. Back to Square One. This time we play off the top and then pass out to midfield. Farrell is back at 10 again and Earl crashes up competently.
Minute 60: We carry for another couple of phases before Sinckler loses the ball in contact and it bumbles out of the ruck behind Youngs's feet. Scotland regather, kick downfield and now we're behind Square One - going from a possible try if we stayed patient to playing kick tennis between the 22s. Eventually Scotland decide to pass across the field and, for a moment, it looks like a mistake as VDM is going to be tackled by Farrell behind the gainline. However, VDM kicks out of the tackle and makes enough metres to allow his pack to get behind him.
Minute 61:Hit On Russell Which Isn't Technically Late But Is Definitely To Put Him Off: Itoje x1, Curry x 1, Ludlam x2, Farrell x1 However, Itoje's hit, while satisfying, leaves Curry trying to cover 4 players on his own. He drifts well and Youngs comes across to make it 2-on-2, communicating well with Curry with clear pointing and shouting, "You take the inside man; I've got Steyn on the outside." Curry does as he's told, tackles the inside man, and Youngs then promptly gets stepped by Steyn and allows him to make a break. Steward opts to deal with a 2-on-1 by flailing desperately at the pass - don't quite know what he was hoping to accomplish by that, as best case scenario he gets a fingertip to it and promptly gets yellow-carded. If he'd chosen to tackle the ball carrier, he'd at least have stopped him from taking the return ball. Mind, Scotland prove capable of stopping their own try-scoring opportunity by fumbling the last pass and England take a scrum.
Genge, Sinckler, and Curry are off. All three of those feel like mistakes - obviously I can't see the GPS stats, but Genge and Sinckler were still running around and forming a massive part of our attack and we became notably more toothless with them off. As I mentioned on the game thread, Isiekwe for Curry doesn't make sense to me. We don't need the additional lineout operator, Curry's been doing a generally good job, and Isiekwe's just not as good a flanker. Add to that how tired Chessum gets by the end of the game and this feels like another poor substituting decision.
Minute 62: Cole does justify his appearance with a big drive winning a scrum penalty and we kick down to 35m from the Scots line. Another good lineout to Chessum and we actually do drive this one.
Minute 63: Not especially effective though - we're high and not particularly secure and we've let Gilchrist get round the wrong side. Still, we made a solid 65cm for our physical exertion and then run a nice little set piece move with Earl, Youngs, and OHC sweeping down the blind side. Sadly Earl gets the ball instead of Youngs, as I think OHC would've been away in that situation, but Earl makes decent ground and we're up to the 22. We play it away and, if we were French playing in France, that shoulder tackle to Chessum's face would've been played ad nauseam to the crowd until the ref was forced to review it, but nobody spots it here.
Youngs then does a box-kick which I'm tempted to put in the KADAB tub, but I'll let him away because it is very good - finds grass, forces Hogg into a hurried kick and ends up with us regaining possession and being 10m inside the 22 instead of just outside. A different bounce of a rugby ball may've seen our attacking position wasted, but then again a different bounce of the rugby ball might've seen the ball evade Hogg altogether and be an England try. The result is good.
Our ball is slow now and gets slower still by a poor clearout that really should've resulted in a Scotland penalty for holding on. The ref gives us a gift though, so we carry on.
Minute 64: We're noticeably less of a threat in attack. Losing Genge, Sinckler and Curry has made a massive difference - for hard yards, sleight of hand, and solidity of clearout respectively. Scotland have another go at turning us over and almost counterruck us off, but weight of numbers count and we get excruciatingly slow ball back, before the ref gives us a penalty for a hand in the ruck. Bit lucky there, I think.
Minute 65: Farrell knocks over the penalty and we're 23-19. Stop here? No? Okay then. Watson on for OHC who looks very frustrated at his day. Lots of almosts and nearlies for him today.
Ludlam gets absolutely walloped by VDM off the kickoff, but we retain the ball and Youngs box-kicks upfield. It's terrible - too long, doesn't hit touch, basically the same as the JVP one that led to the try. Hogg takes and we'll see what happens in minute 66...
Minute 66: I owe that kick a minor apology, as the chase has made it superb. We've got a solid line of white and Russell is forced back inside to meet Isiekwe and Earl. Earl does a fantastic job - releases, supports his own bodyweight, rips the ball back to England's side for a picture-perfect turnover. The referee, for some unknown reason, gives it as a penalty for being off his feet. Hard done by there.
Scotland take their lineout and our maul defence is excellent - driving them infield and making them play it away.
Minute 67: Tuipulotu runs a hard line at Faz who brings him down with an excellent low tackle. You know, I've been mocking the tackle school in this recap, but I'm actually starting to think there's something to it. Farrell has shown excellent tackling technique all match and even his attempts to dominate Russell have all been ribcage or below. I'm still angry about The Incident, and the fact that Smith turns useless when he steps in at 10, but aside from that he's actually been pretty good so far.
Scotland go side-to-side, but are saved from having to try and accomplish anything by the ref giving Scotland a penalty for Itoje straying offisde in defence. It is a very marginal call, but once again it's not one that we needed to give him a reason to make. Itoje's not even using the extra step that he is in front of the rest of the defensive line to pressure the Scots, he's just not taking a step forwards when the ball comes out. Soft penalty.
Minute 68: Russell uses his whole minute and then some...
Minute 69: ...before making the score 23-22. We kick off and, for some reason, go a bit shorter and higher and invite Marchant to compete. Not sure why we've chosen now, but there we are. Scotland do a good job defending and get a pod up in the air to take it. Scotland don't kick long, but instead spin it wide - we're short handed, but this time resist the temptation to hit Russell and instead drift and cover at the expense of territory.
Minute 70: Scotland go back the other way and we again look tight, but a miscommunication sees a pass go into touch and we have a lineout 35m out, which is where it feels the majority of this half has been played. This time we throw to Chessum at the back, for variety, and set up one of the worst mauls you'll ever see. Cole detaches from Chessum's side and goes off on a wander of his own, Chessum and Ludlam fumble the transfer, Mako bashes into the back of Ludlam to make sure the ball is properly sealed in the middle and Chessum spins like a top to make sure the ball is presented to the Scots. All things told, it's a shambles, and I'm amazed that we somehow turn it into a ruck where the ball comes out on our side.
However, it is secure ball, 35m from the Scots line, and I did let him off the last one, so this is now Kicking Away Decent Attacking Ball: Youngs x1, Farrell x1, Smith x2, JVP x1. There is grass to land it into, but there are three Scots there before the first Englishman and it'd take a freak bounce for that to be anything other than Scottish possession.
Kinghorn's kick back is very average and Earl gets a free run. He carries it up to 30m out and we get pretty quick ball.
And I think that'll do us for the evening. See you all tomorrow for the denouement.
No idea why I’m choosing to critique individual bits of this but I guess it’s interesting seeing the different way a scrum can be perceived.
I rarely feel like I know what’s going on in a scrum but to me it looked like Genge started off pretty much pointing at the corner flag on a number of those where you’ve talked about his dominance. (May well look different on repeat viewing though)
Also interesting trying to judge the quality of certain kicks based on the effectiveness of the chase, when we have very little idea of what was communicated between kicker and chaser.
Also had seen a gif somewhere earlier of the Ben White try that shows (I think) Smith and Farrell seemingly confused about how they’re splitting the defensive line either side of the ruck and then both abandoning the blindside - leaving Curry and Marchant covering 3 or 4 Scots on that side.
I’ll start my separate post-by-post review of this thread in a separate thread of it’s own, but there’s a little taste for you all.
Yep, it’ll take time to get used to the new systems in place and players will make mistakes whilst they’re being bedded in. It’s also impossible for us to say for certain who is at fault - for example, Marchant may have been in the correct place for DVDM’s initial line break for that try and Farrell should’ve taken up position on DVDM’s outside shoulder/the other side of the blocker. Highly unlikely, imo, but it’ll always be guess work unless you’re in the Monday debrief.
For me, there were obvious faults - a lot of which came from poor comms/unfamiliarity - but there were glimpses of what we are trying to do which after 10 days of training, and in comparison to the previous year or so, I’ll take.
Mellsblue wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 9:09 am
Yep, it’ll take time to get used to the new systems in place and players will make mistakes whilst they’re being bedded in. It’s also impossible for us to say for certain who is at fault - for example, Marchant may have been in the correct place for DVDM’s initial line break for that try and Farrell should’ve taken up position on DVDM’s outside shoulder/the other side of the blocker. Highly unlikely, imo, but it’ll always be guess work unless you’re in the Monday debrief.
For me, there were obvious faults - a lot of which came from poor comms/unfamiliarity - but there were glimpses of what we are trying to do which after 10 days of training, and in comparison to the previous year or so, I’ll take.
This may not be popular, but a lot of the stuff the forwards were doing in terms of carrying, pull backs etc....we saw in patches under Eddie. ditto good starts sometimes, poor discipline, bad defence and lots of kicking, Farrell at 10 with Smith second receiver, relatively slowing ruck ball as the game went on.
Yours
Eeyore
But it has only been 10 days, and B-diddy has taken some of the good stuff and started working with it.
Mellsblue wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 9:09 am
Yep, it’ll take time to get used to the new systems in place and players will make mistakes whilst they’re being bedded in. It’s also impossible for us to say for certain who is at fault - for example, Marchant may have been in the correct place for DVDM’s initial line break for that try and Farrell should’ve taken up position on DVDM’s outside shoulder/the other side of the blocker. Highly unlikely, imo, but it’ll always be guess work unless you’re in the Monday debrief.
For me, there were obvious faults - a lot of which came from poor comms/unfamiliarity - but there were glimpses of what we are trying to do which after 10 days of training, and in comparison to the previous year or so, I’ll take.
This may not be popular, but a lot of the stuff the forwards were doing in terms of carrying, pull backs etc....we saw in patches under Eddie. ditto good starts sometimes, poor discipline, bad defence and lots of kicking, Farrell at 10 with Smith second receiver, relatively slowing ruck ball as the game went on.
Yours
Eeyore
But it has only been 10 days, and B-diddy has taken some of the good stuff and started working with it.
Agreed, hence ‘glimpses’. It’ll be incremental, has to be really.
Mellsblue wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 9:09 am
Yep, it’ll take time to get used to the new systems in place and players will make mistakes whilst they’re being bedded in. It’s also impossible for us to say for certain who is at fault - for example, Marchant may have been in the correct place for DVDM’s initial line break for that try and Farrell should’ve taken up position on DVDM’s outside shoulder/the other side of the blocker. Highly unlikely, imo, but it’ll always be guess work unless you’re in the Monday debrief.
For me, there were obvious faults - a lot of which came from poor comms/unfamiliarity - but there were glimpses of what we are trying to do which after 10 days of training, and in comparison to the previous year or so, I’ll take.
This may not be popular, but a lot of the stuff the forwards were doing in terms of carrying, pull backs etc....we saw in patches under Eddie. ditto good starts sometimes, poor discipline, bad defence and lots of kicking, Farrell at 10 with Smith second receiver, relatively slowing ruck ball as the game went on.
Yours
Eeyore
But it has only been 10 days, and B-diddy has taken some of the good stuff and started working with it.
Agreed, hence ‘glimpses’. It’ll be incremental, has to be really.
Even the didmeister can't overcome lack of top test quality nor having limited options at hooker and 12 (to name but two). But getting us playing cohesively and eliminating some fckwittedness would be great.
Minute 27: It's a decent kick and Malins and Curry chase well to reel in VDM. However Scotland recycle and Itoje loses his balance while trying to compete at the next breakdown, before compounding it by staying in on the jackal as he gets up off his knees. It's a really obvious pen to give away and disappointing. Third time I've had cause to note Itoje in a bad way so far. Thankfully White screws up the advantage by scuffing a chip and then knocking it on, so we go back to the penalty.
Minute 28: Scotland make touch just inside our 22 and take a fairly straightforward front ball without competition. Disappointing. The maul is well defended, but Scotland peel away and Itoje is very lucky to avoid getting pinged for a cheap bodycheck on Turner just after he's passed the ball (hells, he's lucky not to make contact with the head, cause that could happen).
Itoje is a class player, but much of that comes from living on the edge to a significant degree. But is he becoming a liability for you?
Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Wed Feb 08, 2023 8:02 am
No idea why I’m choosing to critique individual bits of this but I guess it’s interesting seeing the different way a scrum can be perceived.
I rarely feel like I know what’s going on in a scrum but to me it looked like Genge started off pretty much pointing at the corner flag on a number of those where you’ve talked about his dominance. (May well look different on repeat viewing though)
Also interesting trying to judge the quality of certain kicks based on the effectiveness of the chase, when we have very little idea of what was communicated between kicker and chaser.
Also had seen a gif somewhere earlier of the Ben White try that shows (I think) Smith and Farrell seemingly confused about how they’re splitting the defensive line either side of the ruck and then both abandoning the blindside - leaving Curry and Marchant covering 3 or 4 Scots on that side.
I’ll start my separate post-by-post review of this thread in a separate thread of it’s own, but there’s a little taste for you all.
The comments on Genge's angles are definitely not unfair - Nel is going in first, but that's mostly because Genge is manhandling him into those positions, so I can definitely see a penalty going the other way as well.
Minute 27: It's a decent kick and Malins and Curry chase well to reel in VDM. However Scotland recycle and Itoje loses his balance while trying to compete at the next breakdown, before compounding it by staying in on the jackal as he gets up off his knees. It's a really obvious pen to give away and disappointing. Third time I've had cause to note Itoje in a bad way so far. Thankfully White screws up the advantage by scuffing a chip and then knocking it on, so we go back to the penalty.
Minute 28: Scotland make touch just inside our 22 and take a fairly straightforward front ball without competition. Disappointing. The maul is well defended, but Scotland peel away and Itoje is very lucky to avoid getting pinged for a cheap bodycheck on Turner just after he's passed the ball (hells, he's lucky not to make contact with the head, cause that could happen).
Itoje is a class player, but much of that comes from living on the edge to a significant degree. But is he becoming a liability for you?
No. Next question . He does many more good things than bad ones- he does simultaneously need to reign it in (you can see his frustration at the team he is in) but also re-find the ability to do match changing interventions.
Minute 27: It's a decent kick and Malins and Curry chase well to reel in VDM. However Scotland recycle and Itoje loses his balance while trying to compete at the next breakdown, before compounding it by staying in on the jackal as he gets up off his knees. It's a really obvious pen to give away and disappointing. Third time I've had cause to note Itoje in a bad way so far. Thankfully White screws up the advantage by scuffing a chip and then knocking it on, so we go back to the penalty.
Minute 28: Scotland make touch just inside our 22 and take a fairly straightforward front ball without competition. Disappointing. The maul is well defended, but Scotland peel away and Itoje is very lucky to avoid getting pinged for a cheap bodycheck on Turner just after he's passed the ball (hells, he's lucky not to make contact with the head, cause that could happen).
Itoje is a class player, but much of that comes from living on the edge to a significant degree. But is he becoming a liability for you?
No, but he can do so much better. This is not the levels that Itoje should be aspiring to.
. great work tho.
. He does many more good things than bad ones- he does simultaneously need to reign it in (you can see his frustration at the team he is in) but also re-find the ability to do match changing interventions.